Review of Books of Being
-
harishpi81
- Book of the Month Participant
- Posts: 48
- Joined: 06 Mar 2018, 13:04
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 38
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-harishpi81.html
- Latest Review: 5 Secrets of The Matrix by Zsa Zsa Tudos
Review of Books of Being
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Books of Being" by Retsim Laudividni.]
Many elements of the human psyche render it different and superior to all the other animals that ever walked on Earth. The sense of creativity, beauty, conscientiousness, and the skill to acquire and transfer knowledge are the pillars of human evolution. But to attain success in any human endeavor, there needs an existence of balance between these aspects, the absence of which dooms the said endeavor. There is a need for a proper congregation of these elements to prevent the chaos that's bound to occur in the power struggle between these elements.
'Books of Being' by Retsim Laudividni is an existential comedy that builds on the concept of the power struggle between some elemental aspects of the human spirit. The novel plays with several philosophical concepts and narrative styles to deliver a cryptic tale of a tussle between spiritual beings that results in chaos and destruction of order. The book is introduced as three short stories, but I believe that the three of them hardly stand alone. To make complete sense of any one of them, it's required to read the other two. So I would consider it as three integral parts of a larger novel.
In the first part of the book called 'Soul Retrieval', we encounter 'The Man', who is just dead and reaches Flux, a space where second chances are given to beings who need to repair their fractured souls and get back to the world. 'The Man' has to perform three tasks for soul retrieval, failing which his soul will be permanently banished to 'Darkness'. In the second part, titled 'Meet Death', the new Grim Reaper struggles with his newfound powers and finds himself unable to perform his duties, till he realizes that he became Reaper as part of a larger plan and regains his authoritarian power over other beings. The third part, 'The Order', which describes the origins of Reaper and the other four entities, is the missing element of the jigsaw puzzle that finally helps the reader to exactly understand the other two parts.
'Books of Being' aims to be a philosophical discourse that describes the workings of the human spirit and how an imbalance in the elements of spirit corrupts the entire system. It is easy for the reader to concentrate on the philosophy and miss the delightful humor that the author employs to give the novel a farcical veil. The humor, while most of the time existential, takes up the form of slapstick occasionally. I was surprised to notice this in the first book when Reaper sends 'The Man' to his soul retrieval tasks by hitting on his head.
Though the book puts forward an interesting perspective, there are times when I feel that it gets too pretentious and loses the focus of its reader. This happens more in the second part and towards the end of the third part. At those times, I felt that the narrative pretends that it's more than what it is. The writer tries to fit in too many symbols in the story, bogs down the narrative, and alienates the reader in the process. The first part and most of the third part present more disciplined storytelling and engage the reader.
While I loved how the writer used a serious topic for his narrative and cleverly used humor to put forth an interesting philosophical perspective, the uneven plot makes it sometimes a tiresome read. I would award this book three out of five stars for these reasons and the professional editing that ensured that typos and grammatical errors were absent. I would recommend 'Books of Being' to readers who are ready to invest some effort to comprehend their books and wouldn't feel exasperated by the presence of philosophy in them.
******
Books of Being
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Many elements of the human psyche render it different and superior to all the other animals that ever walked on Earth. The sense of creativity, beauty, conscientiousness, and the skill to acquire and transfer knowledge are the pillars of human evolution. But to attain success in any human endeavor, there needs an existence of balance between these aspects, the absence of which dooms the said endeavor. There is a need for a proper congregation of these elements to prevent the chaos that's bound to occur in the power struggle between these elements.
'Books of Being' by Retsim Laudividni is an existential comedy that builds on the concept of the power struggle between some elemental aspects of the human spirit. The novel plays with several philosophical concepts and narrative styles to deliver a cryptic tale of a tussle between spiritual beings that results in chaos and destruction of order. The book is introduced as three short stories, but I believe that the three of them hardly stand alone. To make complete sense of any one of them, it's required to read the other two. So I would consider it as three integral parts of a larger novel.
In the first part of the book called 'Soul Retrieval', we encounter 'The Man', who is just dead and reaches Flux, a space where second chances are given to beings who need to repair their fractured souls and get back to the world. 'The Man' has to perform three tasks for soul retrieval, failing which his soul will be permanently banished to 'Darkness'. In the second part, titled 'Meet Death', the new Grim Reaper struggles with his newfound powers and finds himself unable to perform his duties, till he realizes that he became Reaper as part of a larger plan and regains his authoritarian power over other beings. The third part, 'The Order', which describes the origins of Reaper and the other four entities, is the missing element of the jigsaw puzzle that finally helps the reader to exactly understand the other two parts.
'Books of Being' aims to be a philosophical discourse that describes the workings of the human spirit and how an imbalance in the elements of spirit corrupts the entire system. It is easy for the reader to concentrate on the philosophy and miss the delightful humor that the author employs to give the novel a farcical veil. The humor, while most of the time existential, takes up the form of slapstick occasionally. I was surprised to notice this in the first book when Reaper sends 'The Man' to his soul retrieval tasks by hitting on his head.
Though the book puts forward an interesting perspective, there are times when I feel that it gets too pretentious and loses the focus of its reader. This happens more in the second part and towards the end of the third part. At those times, I felt that the narrative pretends that it's more than what it is. The writer tries to fit in too many symbols in the story, bogs down the narrative, and alienates the reader in the process. The first part and most of the third part present more disciplined storytelling and engage the reader.
While I loved how the writer used a serious topic for his narrative and cleverly used humor to put forth an interesting philosophical perspective, the uneven plot makes it sometimes a tiresome read. I would award this book three out of five stars for these reasons and the professional editing that ensured that typos and grammatical errors were absent. I would recommend 'Books of Being' to readers who are ready to invest some effort to comprehend their books and wouldn't feel exasperated by the presence of philosophy in them.
******
Books of Being
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: 5 Secrets of The Matrix by Zsa Zsa Tudos
